Dave Cameron at FanGraphs offered the most effusive praise of the signing, calling it the second time in a little over a year that the Cubs have scored big in a deal involving Rizzo. In a long piece well worth your time, Cameron compares Rizzo’s deal to the pre-arb extensions recently signed by Paul Goldschmidt and Allen Craig, and concludes not only that Rizzo is the superior player, but also that the Cubs got the best deal of the three. The piece is chock-full of quotable quotes, but I’ll go with this one as my favorite: “Rizzo’s power is carrying him at the moment, making up for the fact that he’s a bit too aggressive at the plate, but discipline develops with experience, and Rizzo should be able to add more walks to his profile before his power begins to decline. In his prime, Rizzo should develop into a +4 to +5 win first baseman. In terms of overall value, he projects to be not that different from what Prince Fielder is right now, with his better defense making up for the lower walk rate.”

Keith Law, who pointed out some issues in Rizzo’s swing earlier this year before he exploded, said the signing was a “strong move” for the Cubs.

Rob Neyer also applauds the deal for the Cubs, comparing Rizzo to another NL Central first baseman, Joey Votto – whose seasons in his 30s are going to cost the Reds three times as much as Rizzo’s seasons in his 20s. (It’s fun to think of it that way, but, let’s be honest, that’s mostly just a product of contract dynamics in MLB. Votto was going to be a free agent, and the Reds bought him out of that. The vast majority of Rizzo’s deal comes during years he was under (cheap) control already. That said, I think the more important point here is how valuable young, cost-controlled talent is.)

At the press conference yesterday, neither Rizzo nor GM Jed Hoyer really said much that you wouldn’t expect. It was nice hearing Hoyer say this, though: “We’ve known Anthony for a long time. Theo, Jason and I have spent a lot of time with this guy and feel like we know him really well. Ultimately you want to build your team around people you trust, people you believe in, and I think today is a really good example that we believe in Anthony.” Talent and baseball ability matter, probably more than anything else. But when you’re able to find a core group of players who have talent, but are also good, trustworthy people? There’s an impact there, even if you can’t measure it with a statistic.

Dale Sveum took the praise to the next level, saying that the deal is good for the City of Chicago. “In my position, it’s nice to have a guy projected for 30 [homers] and 100 RBIs in your lineup for the next seven-to-whatever years, especially with his makeup and defensive ability,” Sveum said, per Cubs.com. “It’s pretty important to all of us – the city and the organization – to have somebody like that locked up for that long. It’s a pretty special day for all of us.”

James Russell had the best reaction to the extension, per Bruce Levine: “I am happy it happened to one of my friends so he can buy me dinners and lunches all the time. He can also take me and the guys out and pick up the bar tab.”

Rizzo is a monster. I am a huge fan of Vogelbach, and I hope to see him manning firstbase in a Cubs uniform someday, and that’s not a knock to Rizzo. Rizzo’s deal adds plenty of value to an already valuable player, and if Vogelbach turns into a player that needs to be at first, it would give the Cubs 2 tradeable assets, 2 they could play against each other and bring back a great return.

Noah

I’m having concerns about Vogelbach’s performance with the bat in the MWL. Is he performing well there? Yes. Is he dominating? No. This is a guy who absolutely needs to dominate with the bat to be a prospect, much less someone you’re even thinking about to replace Rizzo in the future. Vogelbach just isn’t hitting for much power (.155 ISO), and that’s a big concern. He just doesn’t bring enough else to the table to be someone who only gets extra base hits in about 30% of his games.

It’s still only been a bit over a month of minor league play, but to become a Top 100 type of prospect this season Vogelbach would have needed to tear up Low A early, then tore up High A and at least looked ready to go to Double A at the start of 2014. As it is, my bet is that Vogelbach will see a month of play in Daytona at most.

Kyle

Meh, I think his performance is pretty exciting.

He’s drawing walks, he’s not striking out much. He’s maybe a homer or two behind what I’d consider a great pace for that.

His SLG is mostly being held down by a fluky low XBH ratio. That’s something that is prone to a ton of variance and sometimes doesn’t even out for multiple seasons, but in general even a tub like him is going to get more than 5 doubles for every 28 singles.

Dynastyin2017

Way to soon to be disappointed in Vogelbach. This is the first time in his life he has played in this crappy weather. Same for all the KC Cougars. Let’s give them time. When it comes time to consider promotions, remember these kids are 19-20….they have plenty of time.

EQ76

“The piece is chock-full of quotable quotes”.. not sure why but when I read “quotable quotes”, i picture Will Ferrell on SNL doing his Alex Trebek on Jeopardy saying “Potent Potables”

beerhelps

What condiment is made from mustard seeds?

DarthHater

That’s ridiculous. How the heck could you make an effective contraceptive device from mustard seeds?

The Fangraphs article was quite good, but dear lord are those Diamondback fans upset about Dave Cameron’s suggestion that Rizzo would be better than Goldschmidt,

hansman1982

Ha, yes, geez they blasted him up one side and down the other. Apparently a 23 year old doing what a 25 year old is doing really isn’t that special.

ssckelley

That could be true, Rizzo appears to be a little further along at the plate than Goldschmidt at 23.

Kygavin

I love Goldschmidt. He is one of my favorite players and a fantasy man-crush of mine, but Rizzo is the better all around player by far. Rizzo has a much better glove and is 2 years younger. These 2 could be two of the top NL 1B’s for a while tho

Idaho Razorback

I like James Russell’s quote the best!

http://Bleachernation Lou Brock

The Cubs will need someone on base for Rizzo to drive Instead of drafting Bryant From S.D. I believe the FO should select Colin Moran 3rd baseman from North Carolina who without a doubt is the best pure hitter in college ball.
His stats back up this assessment. BA .385, 13 HR, 78 RBI, 50BB, 13K’s, OBP .516 & only 4 errors in 51 games played at 3rd. All this done against the best players league in Division 1 NCAA baseball – the ACC.
Knowing this FO history of taking the best position player in the draft it will be Moran , not Bryant in my estimation. His DOB is October 1992 & he was raised in the state of NY so climate / weather issues should not effect him like Bryant who is from Nevada & plays in Southern California.

cubmig

Wow. Where has this guy’s name been? Has anybody mentioned his name? Maybe you’re right……the FO might just pull that trigger on him……

terencemann

His ceiling at the moment does not appear to be in line with the guys who might go 1-3 (Gray, Bryant, and Appel).

Cedlandrum

He is a great player who will probably be a top 10 pick, but is viewed as the next tier.

Noah

Additionally, many think Moran is destined for 1B in the majors.

Rich

Sean Connery: “The day is mine, I’ll take famous titties for $ 100.”

Alex Trebeck: “Titles, Mr. Connery ! “

MJ

Even Hawk Harrelson & Steve Stone were giving it up for Rizzo & the Cubs last night. Harrelson went so far as to say the Cubs “stole” Rizzo from the Padres.

Featherstone

Rizzo must have a high TWTW rating.

Stinky Pete

I can comprehend that they were saying nice things about Rizzo, but somehow, coming from Hawk, it just seems like a prick thing to say.

Blublud

.346/.506/.880/1.386 .552 wOBA 28HR 58RBI 56BB 35SO

Think I’ll take Bryant

DarthHater

“when you’re able to find a core group of players who have talent, but are also good, trustworthy people? There’s an impact there, even if you can’t measure it with a statistic.”

Come one, Bert! Have you not heard of Belly Fire Pct. (BF%)?

http://www.bleachernation.com Brett

Touche.

Timmy

Good signing, I was a little worried when the season began but he’s clearly tracked to be a standard middle-of-the-lineup guy.

We just need 4 more like him, either from within or from outside of the system, and we’ll compete. If I had to guess, we’d need a Cano + more to be serious. If Cano is all we’re going to have a shot at, we have to go for a Cano. It’s a weird conundrum between competing by overpaying or not competing at all and saving money for ownership. Why would we go with the latter?

Craig

Finally a smart FO. Instead of overpaying for Left Handed OF like Fukedome and Milton Bradley, they find bargain ones like DeJesus and Schierholtz. Instead of giving monster contracts to soon to be over the hill players like Pujois and Fielder, we trade for Rizzo. Plus we get long term bargain contracts for Rizzo and Castro. They are willing to get rid of under performing players like Byrd, Soto and Stewart and use young value players like Valenuaba and Castillo. The old FO would of never done that. The new FO knows how to find quality bargains. To top it all off, they have assembled a great rotation with a trade (Wood), a converted middle reliever (Smardja), three FA know one else seemed to want (Feldman, Villenueva and Jackson). All while our best starter Garzavis injured. Then to top it off, they find a closer who is lights out so far on the waiver list. I know the new FO hasn’t been perfect but this is simply amazing to me how many sound decisions they have made. And did I mention the farm system is finally looking up! I’m excited

wax_eagle

I know it’s not popular to say, but the mandate was vastly different under Hendry. He didn’t have the latitude under Trib Co or Ricketts to tear the whole thing down and start over. That’s not to say that Theo isn’t a better GM. But a lot of guys could do amazing things if they were given the kind of power, leeway and latitude that Theo and Jed have been given.

JoeyCollins

“Dale Sveum took the praise to the next level, saying that the deal is good for the City of Chicago.” Anthony Rizzo for mayor of Chicago! He can have Sveum be his press secretary and we can get daily quotes about how the sun and moon rise and set when Rizzo wants them to. Or how Anthony Rizzo is by far the greatest person to set foot in the city of Chicago, ever, pretty much.

ETS

“Talent and baseball ability matter, probably more than anything else. But when you’re able to find a core group of players who have talent, but are also good, trustworthy people? There’s an impact there, even if you can’t measure it with a statistic.”

But what’s his TWTW?!?!?!

5412

Hi,

This should also send a message to Barney and the youngsters who are not extended.

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